ARSPHENAMIN IN PNEUMONIA WITH DELAYED RESOLUTION IN SYPHILITIC SOLDIERS

In some individuals an acute disease will so derange the protective mechanism of the body that an old infection lying apparently dormant will be reactivated thereby.

Medical officers stationed during the war in Southern camps where malaria was prevalent not infrequently observed instances of renewed malarial infections in soldiers sick with pneumonia. These soldiers gave old histories of malarial fever with chills, fever and sweats, in some instances years prior to their entrance into the army. The symptoms of malaria appeared usually in the early part of convalescence from pneumonia. The chill and fever were typically periodic. The spleen was usually enlarged. Tertian organisms were found in the blood, and the paroxysms of fever responded promptly to quinin. Several such instances occurred at the base hospital at Camp Wheeler during the epidemic of pneumonia in the winter of 1918-1919.

A severe attack of pneumonia will sometimes weaken or break down